Things to do

Bilbo Baggins, as spoken in The Fellowship of the Ring by English actor Ian Holm, born on this day in 1931.

Bilbo, of course, had already been off on his great adventure. He gave these words at his hundred and eleventh birthday party as he set off to live with the elves in Rivendell.

Of course you already knew that.

Or you should have.

Mug Shots(click the pic)

I am remembering that around the time of the attacks in 2001, I met an amazing group of friends online, yes online, on another forum (okay it was a political forum). But we shared a love for Tolkien and anxiously awaited the release of the three movies.

We even rented a house together on the coast of Florida for the release of The Return of the King. Over the years we’ve shared weddings, deaths, pet stories (and pet deaths) and much more.

Most of us have migrated to Facebook, and while we rarely have the chance to be together as a group anymore, we remain friends.

I like that part of the story.

But, as Bilbo said, there is much to do.

No, I don’t get to go off to Rivendell to retire and finish my book…of course you know that Bilbo didn’t finish his book.

With the ending of the weekend job, and with the first real test of the script, I’m free to begin working on that (free and optional) newsletter. I’m only a few weeks behind on that. Then again, that was my own deadline, not set by anyone else…so let’s just say I’m not behind.

I’m just, amazingly, not any less busy. Yet.

I have found myself saying “now that I have my weekends free, I can do all of these things.” Except I don’t really have my weekends free.

You don’t need to see my calendar, but it runneth over.

And, that’s okay. Mostly.

I’m doing the things I love. The things I want to be doing.

And somewhere, currently pretty much every single show that’s running in the Central Virginia area has a friend (or multiple friends) I’ve acted with and that I need to commit to seeing on stage.

That may be a slight exaggeration, but only slight. The reality is that I may not have time to see every show I want or need to see.

I’ll do my best.

In the meantime, I keep juggling and organizing, and making notes in my Self-Journal to block out times and projects that need to be taken care of.

Remember that whole “life is a journey” conversation from last week?

The reality is that the “to-do” list is never done.

Never.

That’s a pretty healthy way of looking at it. There’s alway something else to be done.

Finish one project, and another is staring you in the face.

Of course, in the world of freelance writing and design, as well as in the world of acting, having another project lined up is a good thing.

WaPo: Gillespie Supports Move To Let Congress Determine DACAThe Republican Standard
Of course, the true core of the conversation isn’t the legal status of DACA recipients at all, but rather the unconstitutional methods used by the Obama administration to bypass the Congress in granting them their stay.

Faith groups provide the bulk of disaster recovery, in coordination with FEMAUSA Today
“About 80% of all recovery happens because of non-profits, and the majority of them are faith-based,” said Greg Forrester, CEO of the national VOAD. The money is “all raised by the individuals who go and serve, raised through corporate connections, raised through church connections,” and amounts to billions of dollars worth of disaster recovery assistance, he said.